Sant Jordi’s Day 2023

On April 23rd, Catalonia celebrates “La Diada de Sant Jordi,” or Saint Jordi’s Day, a deeply ingrained tradition and one of the region’s most cherished occasions. While the original custom involved men presenting women with a red rose and women gifting men a book, it has evolved, allowing anyone to give a book, a rose, or both to anyone they choose.

The streets of Catalan towns are crowded with people wandering about, searching for the perfect book or rose to present as a gift. The lively and festive atmosphere is challenging to describe in words; it’s best to visit and experience it firsthand!

La Diada de Sant Jordi coincides with International Book Day, a day to celebrate and honor renowned authors. As a result, streets are filled with bookstalls, where famous writers autograph their works for fans.

Last year Barcelona Supercomputing Center started a book exchange among employees to celebrate Sant Jordi. With the aim of establishing this tradition, this Thursday 20the of April the book exchange has been repeated at the main office. To make the event more memorable, participants were asked to include an anonymous note describing the book’s significance to them or the reasons they enjoyed it.

In honor of this special day, our research group also wants to repeat the experience by recommending two books for your reading pleasure.

Our first recommendation is the book titled “Origin” by Dan Brown. It is the fifth installment in the Robert Langdon series following “Inferno”. This thrilling novel explores the intersection of science, religion, and the origins of human existence. It follows the journey of Harvard professor Robert Langdon, who finds himself drawn into a compelling mystery surrounding a revolutionary discovery by his former student, Edmond Kirsch. Kirsch, a computer scientist, claims to have found answers about humanity’s origins and future. However, before he can reveal his findings, chaos erupts, and Langdon must navigate a treacherous path to uncover the truth. This pathway will lead Langdon to visit our research center, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, in order to discover a computer device. Brown’s meticulous research and ability to weave intricate narratives make “Origin” an enthralling read. As you unravel the enigma at the story’s heart, you’ll encounter thought-provoking questions about the nature of life and our place in the universe.

Our second recommendation is the book entitled “Parallel and High-Performance Computing” by Robert Robey and Yuliana Zamora. It is a comprehensive guide for those seeking to optimize application performance and minimize execution time. The book offers a fundamental approach to parallel programming, equipping beginners with the skills required for high-performance computing projects using modern CPU and GPU hardware. The book includes discussions on parallel algorithms and techniques, languages for CPU and GPU, and programming paradigms encompass MPI, OpenMP threading, and vectorization for CPU; and OpenMP, OpenACC, CUDA and OpenCL for GPU. The book targets experienced programmers proficient in high-performance computing languages like C, C++, or Fortran.

If you are interested in books related to fusion, check out our recommendations for Saint Jordi’s Day last year here.

Feliç Sant Jordi!

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